I had noticed for many years that the task of placing clean covers in position upon a bed is a time-consuming exercise which always seemed to require a great deal of expertise in accurately placing the covers in neat arrangement. A neat positioning of the bed covers always seemed to be made by initially positioning of the covers in a temporary position and then requiring many adjusting movements to attain the neatest possible position of the covers, hopefully a positive centering of the covers. This always took a great deal of time and effort.
I had also noticed attempts made by others to try to find ways of securing bed covers in place in order to resist the usual twisting and turning of the occupant.
I eventually conceived an idea to try to develop a system which provide means by which the person performing the bed-making tast would be able to place the covers in a neat position with a minimum of time and effort and also provide a means of assuring that the covers could be held in a secure position without being pulled away from the present condition of covering the sleeper.
Thus, in considering a possible manner in which I might be able to combine a result of being able to center a bed cover quickly and easily with a means of securing the bed covers in firm postion, I have been able to develop the invention which I describe herein.
I have designed my system to provide means for placing bed covers quickly and accurately in place and to provide a means for holding the covers securely in place.
To my knowledge, there has not been a bed cover retainer device which can easily and quickly provide both results.
In accordance with the usual practice, I had conducted a patent search, as a result of which I found the following patents which were considered to be the closest to my invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,507,091 to Carlson describes a holder component applicable to a blanket at the foot end of a bed to anchor that end of the blanket more securely in place. Carlson describes several different types of securing devices. FIG. 1 describes a holder comprising a bar 20 and a clamping plate 25. A portion of a blanket 17 is wrapped around the bar 20 and then Inserted within the slot formed by the clamping plate 25 and then positioned between the mattress and the box spring. FIGS. 5 and 6 describe a holder formed of two essentially identical corrugatable plates which hold a blanket portion therebetween by means of tubular member 35, and designed to be held in place by the corrugation of the members and the weight of the mattress and the person resting in place thereon. FIGS. 9 and 10 describe a holder essentially the same as in FIG. 5., but also being held in position by large springs 75.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,262, to Viggian, describes a bedding retainer comprising an “L”-shaped device which is intended to be initially put in position by placing the horizontal component between the waterbed mattress and the support platform of the bed. The sheet is spread over the mattress and vertical component of the holders and a rubber band is securing a portion of the bed sheet over the elongated lobe 18. FIGS. 3 and 4 describe alternate embodiments of the clamping members.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,660 to Hawkrigg describes a retaining device capable of holding a bed sheet in position by attachment of a retaining device at each cornier of a bed sheet with subsequent placing of the device at a corner of the bed beneath the mattress. The retaining device comprises a flat panel member foldable to engage a corner of the sheet which is inserted thru a flot in one portion of the device to be locked into position by the clamping result furnished when the holder is positioned beneath the mattress.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,139 to Renfro describes a securing apparatus of flat, elongated plastic material such as “VELCRO” or foam material which may be from 6 to 12 inches long or up to equal the width of the bed, to be placed between the bed sheet and box springs, thereby relying upon the high coefficient of static friction to act as the securing device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,028 to Sleeth describes a sheet retaining device for a water bed comprising components which are engaed along each side of the bed frame. The bed frame includes a narrow space along each side. The retaining device comprises two components, an insert member and a retainer clip. The bed sheet is wrapped around the insert member and the insert member is placed within the retainer clip, then inserted into the space along the edge of the bed frame.